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Saturday, December 24, 2011

The traffic to NAIA was very light, but I left home 9:30am for my 12:30pm flight. The queue at the airport was pretty bad but moving. Even the web check-in line was pretty long. I went to the no checked-in baggage lane instead which was much shorter than web check-in. I noticed Cebu Pacific also setup 2 x PC's for people to do self check-in. But no one was using it. :P

My gate is packed like divisoria with no seats available. So I decided to hang out here at Cafe France (the cafe formerly known as Delifrance before Jollibee sold it off). The free Wifi here by Globe is actually pretty decent. Makes the free PLDT Wifi at NAIA1 pale by comparison.

Friday, December 23, 2011

I was experimenting with Samsung's Allshare feature. Its a way for Samsung devices to share media among each other. As far as I can tell, it seems to be Samsung's proprietary implementation of the DLNA standards which allow home devices to "talk" to each other over IP.

I can use my Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone to play its audio and video content on my Samsung LED TV. My Samsung TV can also "see" what's on my phone and play it (if the format is supported) -- all using our home Wifi network. Its pretty cool!

Samsung's proprietary implementation does not seem to be setting well in the forums though. Many people are complaining that it does not adhere to the DLNA standards even though Samsung is claiming they are. For example, if you run a DLNA server software on Linux, Samsung cannot "see" it. Samsung devices seem to only work if you use their Windows-based Allshare server software on a Windows PC. I've haven't tested this part yet.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

This blog entry title would have sounded really strange a couple years ago. But Smart TV's are really computers already. And their features can be updated by loading the proper firmware.

I've been trying to figure out how to make our qwerty remote work with the U55D6600WP. It actually uses Bluetooth technology to "pair" with the TV to send all those keystrokes. But it will not work with the firmware that comes shipped with the TV.

I could not figure out how to make the TV perform a firmware upgrade via its Wi-Fi connection since the button is disabled. So I opted to download the firmware on a regular computer; transferred it to USB; and performed the firmware upgrade via USB.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

I was using my Galaxy Tab to read some comics. I'm sure when I powered it down, the battery still had some juice left. When Cols tried to turn it on today, it would not power up anymore. I tried different electric sockets and plugging it direct to a USB port to no avail.

Finally, after reading some Android/Galaxy Tab forums, other users suggested holding down the power button for at least 10 seconds. Some suggested touching the screen at the same time. I don't know if the latter is just coincidental, but I pressed and touched at the same time and it worked!

Monday, December 5, 2011

I've never really understood before why people listen to audiobooks. Are they visually challenged? Are they just plain too lazy to read? Well, as things turned out, I'm now an audiobook convert!

Yes, I found it to be the perfect cure for boredom during the long commute to work and going back home. I easily spend between 2.5 hrs to 3 hrs a day driving to and from work. Since it would be impossible to read a book while wading through traffic, listening through an audiobook on my Samsung Galaxy S makes the time just zoom by.

My first audiobook attempt was Stephen King's Cell (sometimes referred to as Pulse) read by Campbell Scott. Unfortunately, my download seem to have gotten truncated at Chapter 7. So I was left a bit hanging. In the meantime, I switched to Steve Jobs official Biography by Walter Isaacson. I've read iCon before, but "reading" (or "listening") to this one felt very fresh. It was like listening to Steve's amazing life story for the first time. Its just astounding how much of what we know about personal computing and user interface today originated from him.

As strange as it may sound, I now actually sort of look forward to the daily commute to catch up on my reading. The only downside is you can only go at the pace of the reader, unlike a book where you can skim certain paragraphs or read at a faster pace.